


The Microwave and Hot Pockets

by VindictiveGrace



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Ficlet, Gen, Hot Pockets, I have done this to myself too many times to count, Microwaves, No Smut, Steve is fucking impatient, brief appearance of Nick Fury, everyone has done this at least once in their lives, no relationships - Freeform, takes place sometime soon after Steve wakes up from the iceberg but before The Avengers kicks off, the title says it all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-17
Updated: 2017-05-17
Packaged: 2018-11-01 18:57:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10927983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VindictiveGrace/pseuds/VindictiveGrace
Summary: After Steve wakes up, he’s introduced to two wonders of the 21st Century.





	The Microwave and Hot Pockets

**Author's Note:**

> I also posted this on my Tumblr page [here](https://vindictivegrace.tumblr.com/post/160758955705/the-microwave-and-hot-pockets).
> 
> This was another little idea I had swimming through my mind tonight. I hope you like it. ^_^

When Steve Rogers awoke from his frozen slumber and entered the 21st Century, he was perplexed and astounded by nearly everything in his surroundings. But nothing grabbed his attention more readily than the microwave.

Steve had just missed the invention of the microwave by a couple years. At Shield Headquarters, while he was being briefed on literally everything by Nick Fury, Steve pointed to the sleek, black and silver box with the handle on the counter and asked about it.

“Oh, that?” Fury grunted. “It’s called a microwave. Let me show you how to use it.”

He reached into the freezer and pulled out a tiny box, and from it, a light brown rectangle…thing?…wrapped in thin plastic. Steve watched as Fury unwrapped the plastic, slipped the cardboard sleeve around the rectangle, placed it on a plate, and put it in the contraption known as the microwave. He mushed his fingers against the number pad and hit start.

Round and round it went, humming low for two minutes. Steve watched the plate rotate leisurely in the low golden yellow light.

When it dinged, Fury waited. “Always, always wait,” he advised. “It’s the hardest part, but you gotta wait.”

Another minute passed, and Fury handed Steve the plate. The rectangle was now deep brown and soft like a pastry but smelled savory like a pizza.

When Steve Rogers took a bite, his taste buds lit up. He was introduced to the second most amazing wonder of the 21st Century: Hot Pockets.

Weeks had passed since then. Grief and depression settled in. Steve had eventually realized everyone he had known and loved in his life had to have been dead by now. He didn’t know about Peggy yet, so in his mind she was gone too. He was feeling immensely guilty for the delay his mind took to register that fact. But to him the new world seemed just as forgetful of the past. The war was a long gone afterthought and everyone around him had moved on. Whole generations had moved on. The world had moved on.

When he wasn’t at the gym beating punching bags until they split, Steve hid in his apartment. Shades drawn, he sat quietly in his dim living room drawing. Thinking. Mourning. Wondering what would happen next.

Then he remembered something. Fury gave him a new box of—what were they called again?—Hot Pockets! It wouldn’t bring back his old life, but it would at least put a smile on Steve’s face for this little moment. He was already cracking a grin in anticipation.

Steve raced to the kitchen, pulled out tiny frozen piece of heaven, and started up the microwave SHIELD had furnished his apartment with.

When it dinged, Steve pulled out his ready-made antidepressant and opened his mouth wide. But, with his mouth agape, a memory shot through his mind.

_“Always, always wait,”_ he remembered Fury’s voice. _“It’s the hardest part, but you gotta wait.”_

Steve huffed and rolled his eyes.

“Fuck waiting. I waited 70 years to wake up. I’m not waiting for this.”

His bite took out over half the pizza flavored Hot Pocket.

And in that moment, though he didn’t know it, Steve Rogers had joined the 21st Century in committing the silliest, most painful blunder millions had made before him and millions more will make long after he’s dead and gone.

“AAAAAH! AAAAAH!! AAAAAH!!!”

His inside of his mouth erupted in blisters. He could feel the roof and parts of his gums peeling. His tongue was in agony.

Did he spit it out his overeager, oversized bite of the Hot Pocket? Of course not. He, like everyone else of the new age, suffered through it open-mouthed because it tasted that damn good.

But unlike everyone else in this modern world, Steve’s mouth healed instantly.

This living relic didn’t have to wait.

—End—


End file.
